1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide fastener slider having an automatic lock mechanism, wherein the slider comprises a body, a pawl member, a spring and a pull tab. The pawl member has a locking pawl at an end thereof. The spring has an intermediate portion to be fixed in a recessed portion inscribed on an upper face of the body, and has one end thereof to be brought into resilient contact with a front end portion of the pawl member. A rear end portion of the pawl member is formed so as to be pivotally movable along a guide lug standing on the body.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional slider having an automatic lock mechanism of this type, which comprises a body, a pawl member, a spring, and a pull tab, is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,745. In the known slider, as shown in FIG. 15, a recessed groove 21' for accommodating a plate spring 3' is inscribed in a guide post 7' of a body 1' of the slider, so that the plate spring 3' can be accommodated in the recessed groove 21' and is fixed by caulking a fixing member 40' thereof mounted in an inner portion of the recessed groove 21'. A tip end of the plate spring 3' is brought into resilient contact with an end of a pawl member 2'. The pawl member 2' has at one end portion thereof a locking pawl 26' to be retractably fitted and inserted into a pawl hole 14'. The pawl member 2' further has a support shaft 27' projecting at opposite sides on the other end side portion thereof, which is axially supported on a support lug 10' standing on the body 1'. A pintle 35' of a pull tab 4' is disposed between a projection 11' and the support lug 10' standing on the body 1' so as to make the pawl member 2' move pivotally.
In the above-described slide fastener slider with the automatic lock mechanism shown in FIG. 15, it is the plate spring 3' that activates the pawl member 2' having the locking pawl 26' in the automatic lock mechanism. Because the plate spring 3' is mounted to the body 1' by only caulking the fixing member 40' projecting on an upper face of the body 1', a fixed portion of the spring 3' may be loosened and the spring 3' may fall off if the slider is used for a long time. Or, the spring 3' may not be activated appropriately because of its displacement.
Furthermore, such a slider is not suitable particularly for a slider having the automatic lock mechanism and equipped with a wire spring made of spring steel, because a mounting operation of the spring 3' and an assembling operation of the slider are difficult. Moreover, because a portion for guiding the pivotal movement of the pawl member 2' is the projection 11' disposed inside the locking pawl 26', activation of the locking pawl 26' may go wrong.